Special counsel is investigating Trump

Former FBI director James Comey testified last week that soon after he was sacked in mid-May, he asked a friend to share the contents of a memo in which he described a conversation with President Trump that Comey had found troubling. Apparently that was true all along, until Trump fired Comey and allegedly cited the Russian Federation investigation as a reason.

Shortly after Robert Mueller was named special counsel in the federal Russian Federation investigation, lawmakers speculated that the congressional probes may be sidelined by the forceful new presence. A highly regarded Justice Department careerist, he tapped Mueller - infuriating Trump - after the White House tried to pin the Comey firing on him.

Devlin Barrett is one of The Post reporters on the story and joins us now. The Post said both men refused the president's request.

In the most eagerly anticipated USA congressional hearing in years, Comey had told lawmakers the Trump administration had lied and defamed him and the Federal Bureau of Investigation after the president dismissed him on May 9. The official was responding to this comment from Ruddy, a longtime Trump confidant, to "PBS NewsHour" host Judy Woodruff: "I think he's considering perhaps terminating the special counsel".

Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein was praised for the Mueller appointment. In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week, Comey affirmed that he previously told Trump he was not personally being investigated in the FBI's counterintelligence probe.

An unnamed official told the Post that the interviews suggest Mueller considers the attempted obstruction of justice question as more than just a "he said, he said" situation between Trump and Comey.

But in a statement issued shortly after the Postreport, a spokesman for Kasowitz, Mark Corallo, said: "The FBI leak of information regarding the President is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal". The New York Times reported that Trump had been waved off the idea by advisers.

Be smart: Sessions was never the "satellite" Trump insiders fret most.

Sessions on Tuesday declined to discuss his interactions with Trump, saying the President may one day want to invoke executive privilege for himself. Grassley said Comey's dismissal and Comey's testimony on Lynch should be looked at together, noting that Comey "took the opportunity in his testimony to clear his own name by denouncing as false the administration's claims that the FBI rank-and-file had lost confidence in Mr. Comey's leadership in the wake of the Clinton email investigation".

"I appointed him; I stand by that decision, " he said. He joined the newspaper in 2017 after 15 years with The Wall Street Journal and the AP.